Hi friends,
Here's another review from me after a short gap. I started this review to give you few details about my experience with BSNL's broadband connection, but let me see how this goes.
Background
I needed a good reliable internet connection, which enables me to do some office work and do some online Net Meetings with my customers from my home. Initially I had Zee Next (Cable Modem), then Tata Indicom (DSL). I have had my bit of problems with both of them, so I choose to give BSNL a try.
If you are wondering what this Cable/DSL/Dial-up etc words mean, OR just want to read about what are the various Internet Technologies that are on offer in India, just visit the Comments section of this review to have a look at my appendix..!!
My Earlier Service Providers
Few details about my earlier internet service providers here, just to have a context on why I am going with BSNL now.
Zee Next: Its a Cable Modem based internet service. Zee Next depends on Siti Cable's cable network to run their internet service and Siti Cable runs their network through their franchisees. The problem here is, any internet connection problem has to loop between these three people and it used to take a lot of time to get the issue resolved. More over, any maintenance by any of these three parties used to cause the connection drop out. Even if everything is fine, from the time we switch on the modem, it used to take a minimum of 5 minutes for modem to sync with the signal and some more time to get an IP assigned by the provider's DHCP server (in simple words, takes around 10 minutes to get going). The speeds are not that great and inconsistent. So, I had to opt out of this service.
Tata Indicom: I have taken their connection, when it used to be called DishNet. VSNL then bought DishNet, then the name changed to VSNL. After that, Tata Indicom bought major stake in VSNL, and so now its called Tata Indicom Broadband. Their service used to be good till last few months. However, after Tata Indicom had taken over, they tried to lower the price and expand their reach, but at the cost of quality. The customers are at the suffering end and I stated facing frequent connection drop outs and increase in service calls. More over, they are good at adopting bad billing practices and continued to charge me high at old plan rates, when their new plans are actually at 1/3 of my old plan charges. I noticed “least bothered” approach by their executives to the customer's owes and I had no option but to withdraw from their service.
BSNL Experience
I am sure I have talked enough already on unrelated things as far as the review title is concerned. So, let us jump onto to the actual topic now. This is my third trail with respect to broad band home internet connection.
The Choice
There are couple of main reasons why I choose to go with a BSNL connection. 1.The service is expected to be stable. In other words, just think back how many times you have to call customer service for a dead phone? Very rare, isn't it? Why? Just because most of the cable work is underground and the kind of infrastructure is solid and proven. Since the internet is going to be transmitted over same wire, I am just expecting the same level of service uptime 2. I can be certain about the billing. I am sure we are not going to get cheated like private operators in terms of billing. In other words, when billing plans change, we are sure to get converted to the best available plan automatically. Trust me, same thing happened when they changed their basic phone plan changes. As per my knowledge and experience, it is just not the case with operators like AirTel/TataIndicom.
Application Process
As you expect with a typical government organization, I had to follow certain sequence of steps to get my connection going. Brief history is given below. You can use this info as reference, if you are planning to apply for a BSNL connection.
29 June -> Applied at Regional Commercial Officer's office (located inside Local Telephone Exchange), they gave me a ph. number to follow-up with after 2/3 days
1 July -> Called the phone number (supposed to be of Broadband D-Link Asst), told they just received the application & promised the Work Order will be ready by 2 July (Sat). Nothing happened on 2nd (Sat) & 3rd (Sun)
4 July -> Called them again in the morning, by Evening Work Order got Ready, Collected Demand Note (this is needed for us to go and pay the required advanced payments as per the plan selected, refer https://bsnl.co.in/service/dataone_tariff.htm)
5 July -> Paid against Demand Note (only DD is allowed), payment to be made at customer service centers/collection centers, Taken the receipt & Demand Note Acknowledgement and given it back at Commercial Officer's office, they said Orders will be issued soon
5 July -> After giving the Demand Note Payment Acknowledgement and a copy of Payment Receipt, went and met the our area JTO (Junior Telecom Officer) to ask when it will be connected (I have done this based on some advice from a person in Comm. Officer's office). She said, orders should come to their office in couple of days. She also said Modems are out of stock and they are expecting modems as well in couple of days. Finally, the word from her is to expect the connection by Saturday, 9th July (provided they get modems in expected time)
8 July -> I myself went to the exchange again, met JTO, she gracefully accepted to come along with me in my vehicle (along with one lineman, since I requested extra parallel wiring outside of my house to make sure my inside wiring is not screwed up)..wireman connected the wiring and JTO installed the modem for me in just 30 mins
Hurreh..!! Connection up and running and I made couple of quick speed tests..its running at 380kbps bandwidth when I subscribed for 384kbps (I used to get 200/225 kbps against 512kbps subscribed for in Tata Indicom connection).
This is my first day with BSNL broadband and I don’t have any more to add here. Just to cheer up BSNL fans, I am writing this review using my home’s BSNL’s internet connection.
PS: Your feedback/comments are welcome on this review.
Updated..July 13
To check the traffic usage, you can go to the website https://dataone.in/
and once you are there, click on ''Dataone Account Administration'' link.
Also, if anybody knows how much an extra ADSL splitter costs (and where it’s available) please let me know as well.
Cheers,
Shiv
